Heated discussion about the Ground Zero Mosque distraction with Fox’s Billy O’Reilly prompted co-hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to walk off the set today. Bill said Muslims attacked us on September 11, 2001, and because of this widely disputed and debunked claim a mosque should not be built near Ground Zero. O’Reilly said Muslims have a right to do so, but he said it would be unwise.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

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It is difficult to believe O’Reilly would support the property rights of Muslims to build the so-called Ground Zero mosque. In the past he declared his opposition to the First Amendment when he told those who oppose the illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq to “shut up.”

In September, O’Reilly tried to connect the Ground Zero imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to the truth movement by linking him to Faiz Khan, a Muslim scholar and educator who was a first responder on September 11, 2001. Khan participated in two memorial services for the victims of 9/11 and is involved with the New York group Muslims Against Terrorism. Feisal Abdul Rauf worked with the FBI on its “counterterrorism” effort in March of 2003 and has engaged in conversations with the Council On Foreign Relations. O’Reilly said he would restrict Khan’s freedom of movement for the crime of declaring 9/11 was an inside job. Khan should not be “allowed within ten miles of Ground Zero,” said the Fox News teleprompter reader.